This Day in History (1961): Company operations to be placed on 40-hour week

From the Aug. 23, 1961, edition of the Sun and Flare

Company operations will be placed on a five-day 40-hour work week beginning Sept. 1, Norman Hardy, chairman of the Board of Aramco, has announced.

Hardy made the announcement in connection with the visit to the Eastern Province of H.M. King Sa'ud, who was in the area to open the port extension at Dammam. In a statement over Channel No. 2 last Thursday evening, Hardy said: "On behalf of Aramco, it gives me pleasure to extend a sincere welcome to His Majesty for his visit to the Eastern Province and to welcome a visit of H.R.H. Amir Faisal ibn Turki ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, which occurred last week and during which His Royal Highness inspected the operations of the company in the Eastern Province.

"The company is pleased to announce, as a result of talks with His Majesty King Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, and His Royal Highness Faisal ibn Turki ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, that it will institute a five-day 40-hour work week.

"In view of the fact that this new arrangement requires time to prepare necessary details, including special work schedules, implementation thereof will start Sept. 1, 1961."

Caption for top photo: His Majesty King Sa'ud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz cuts the bright green ceremonial ribbon symbolizing the opening of the $15 million King 'Abd al-'Aziz Port at Dammam. The new facilities, which were completed July 1, give the port a berthing capacity of six deep-water ships simultaneously. The old part could accommodate two ocean-going vessels at the finger pier located seven miles out in the Gulf. Aramco presented its 40-hour work plan to the King while he was visiting.

Also on this date

2012 — A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others

2007 — The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexi Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russian, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia

1994 — Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force

1991 — The World Wide Web is opened to the public

1989 — Some 2 million people from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Talinn road, holding hands

1973 — A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days, the hostages begin to sympathize with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome"

1966 — Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the moon

1954 — The first flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft takes place

1927 — Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed in the U.S. after a lengthy trial

1904 — The automobile tire chain is patented

1866 — The Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague

1831 — Nat Turner's rebellion enslaved Virginians is suppressed

1799 — Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power

1784 — Western North Carolina (now western Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the U.S., and only lasts four years

1628 — George Villers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton